By JIM WALKER

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

COAL GROVE — He might not be a sailor, but Dawson Philyaw is getting his sea legs.

In his best outing since returning from an injury, Philyaw threw a 2-hitter as the Ironton Fighting Tigers beat the Coal Grove Hornets 15-1 in a weather shortened Ohio Valley Conference game on Friday.

Philyaw threw 39 pitches with 29 going for strikes. He struck out 5 and did not walk a batter.

“Dawson is getting his legs under him on the mound now after coming off his injury,” said Ironton coach John Hunt.

“He has now pitched in a few games and looks to have shaken all the rust off. He pitched very well today.”

Ironton (13-1, 10-0) jumped in front 6-0 in the first inning.

Bryson Kerns walked, stole second and scored when Tyler Roach reached on an error. Ian Ginger was safe on an error, Jacob Hughes walked, Tanner Kleinman was hit by a pitch and Carson Freeman had a 2-run single.

Philyaw followed with a sacrifice fly to drive in the final run of the inning.

The Fighting Tigers came back with 8 runs in the second inning to lead 14-0.

With one out, Roach and Ginger walked with Roach scoring on a wild pitch. Ginger scored on a hit by Jacob Hughes with Kleinman and Freeman getting RBI hits.

Philyaw walked, Nick Sites and Kerns singled. Roach got a hit for an RBI and an error on the play allowed the final run to score.

Ironton added a run in the top of the third when Silas Ginger reached on an error and Hughes and Kleinman followed with hits.

Coal Grove (5-9, 3-8) got its only run in the bottom of the third when Kaleb Schwab singled, moved up on a passed ball, went to third when Leland McKnight singled and he scored on an error on the play.

Freeman was 2-2 with 4 runs batted in, Hughes 2-2 with an RBI, Kleinman 2-2, Kerns 1-2 and 2 RBI, Roach 1-2 RBI, and Sites 13 with 2 RBI.

Ironton  681 0 = 15 9 2

Coal Grove 001 0 = 1 2 5

Dawson Philyaw and Jacob Hughes, Ethan Sutton (3). 15-Leland McKnight, Braden Schug (2) and Blake Collins. W-Dawson (IP-4.0, H-2, R-1, ER-0, K-5, BB-0). L-McKnight (IP-1.2, H-7, R-14, ER-8, K-1, BB-5). Schug (2.1, H-2, R-1, ER-0, K-4, BB-0). Hitting-Ironton: Bryson Kerns 1-2 2-RBI, Tyler Roach 1-2 RBI, Jacob Hughes 2-2 RBI, Tanner Kleinman 2-2, Carson Freeman 2-2 4-RBI, Dawson Philyaw RBI, Nick Sites 1-3 2-RBI; Coal Grove: Leland McKnight 1-2, Kaleb Schwab 1-1.